Am Govt Homework 6 Answers - Student Six

From Conservapedia

1. What do you think are the two most influential powers of a president?

The most influential of the presidential powers is the executive power over foreign policy, placing the president as the Commander in Chief of the US Armed Forces. This is the most influential as it can determine the future of foreign countries, as well as the future the United States. The next most influential power of the President is the ability to write executive orders. This ability, and the use of it as a way to simply circumvent Congress to pass legislation, can be very dangerous.

Good, but the power to issue executive orders would not rank as high as the power of the president to nominate judges for the federal courts, particularly the U.S. Supreme Court. The executive order power can seem very important, but in practice it is not as significant as other presidential powers.

2. What would you advise Romney to say in the final presidential debate Monday night about foreign policy, in order to improve his popularity?

I would advise Governor Romney to follow President Reagan's approach to foreign policy of peace through military strength. This policy will discourage other foreign countries and terrorist groups from attacking the United States because they will be afraid of having that power used against them.

Excellent, with a good historical analogy.

3. Define what a "lobbyist" is.

A lobbyist is an individual employed by an interest group or corporation to lobby and discuss with politicians, specific topics that are important to the employing organization.

Good, but your definition of the word "lobbyist" uses a form of the word itself ("lobby"). It's best to define and explain a term by using words other than the term itself in the explanation. Otherwise the definition becomes circular. (-1)

4. Explain what an "interest group" is, and provide an example.

An interest group is an organization that influences politics through one particular issue. A great example of an interest group that almost everyone has heard of is the National Rifle Association, which supports the pro-Second Amendment side of the firearms debate.

Correct, but it would have been better to use an example that was not discussed so much in the lecture.

5. Give two examples of a characteristic or demographic that is correlated to how someone votes. (e.g, an evangelical Christian is more likely to vote for the _____ Party)

A family that regularly uses food stamps is more likely to vote Democrat, as the Democratic Party is pro-government-dependency, and will continue issuing them food stamps. A small business owner is more likely to vote Republican, because the Republican Party supports legislation that will help his business grow, rather than tearing it down.

Superb answer - the best in the class.

6. A question about polling bias: design biased presidential poll questions that are slanted to change the results, such as this example to try to boost Obama's poll numbers: "Would you vote against Obama merely because the economy is doing poorly? If the answer is "no", then ask, "so you might vote for Obama, then?"

7. What is your view of third parties? Why do you think the United States has a "two party system," unlike European nations?

8. What is your view of interest groups: good or bad? Explain.

Special option: watch most of Monday night's presidential debate and analyze it with an essay of at least 200 words, which is worth a total of two of questions numbered 6-8 and two of the extra credit questions. Include your view as to which candidate you think the debate helped the most.

The final presidential debate took place on October 22, only 15 days before the 2012 presidential election on November 6. This was the third debate that has taken place between the incumbent, Democrat Barack Obama and the Republican challenger, Mitt Romney. This debate particularly focused on foreign policy, a subject only touched on in the previous two debates.
The first question, as asked by Bob Schieffer the moderator of this debate was, “The first question, and it concerns Libya. The controversy over what happened there continues. Four Americans are dead, including an American ambassador. Questions remain. What happened? What caused it? Was it spontaneous? Was it an intelligence failure? Was it a policy failure? Was there an attempt to mislead people about what really happened?”

This question seems fairly straightforward, but was cleverly avoided by both candidates. Governor Romney answered first, mentioned Libya, but then quickly started to talk about Al Qaeda and other terror groups until his time was up. President Obama, the man who truly knew the facts about what happened, simply said that when he received a phone call about the attack he ordered an investigation of what happened. The actual analysis of the facts shows that this phone call would've taken place hours before the attack had ended.

Also in the debate there was question about Romney's proposal of increased military spending, particularly in the Navy. Romney answered first or this topic. Initially he did not directly answer the question, but rather began talking about government spending cuts and Obamacare. Next, Obama made fallacious claims that he was lowering government spending. After this offshoot discussion, the candidates returned to the question of military spending. Governor Romney strongly stated that the military, especially the Navy, is smaller than it has been since 1917. President Obama then responded with a sarcastic remark, “Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets…” This remark did not come across to me as very presidential, or statesmanlike.

Next, was the topic of Israel, particularly whether the United States would adopt a treaty stating that an attack on Israel is the equivalent of an attack on the United States. Neither candidate really answered this question, with each stating that he is on the side of Israel and would stand up for it. Obama has never visited Israel during his term as president, so I find his supposed relationship with Israel hard to believe.

Throughout this entire debate, President Obama took on a personality that has not been commonly seen in him before. This new personality was more snarky and insolent than his usual appearance. This new personality could be due to the stress of the very real possibility of him not winning a second term and many of his policies being put to an end.

I saw Governor Romney as winning this debate, especially for the swing states. If Mitt Romney wins this election, he will be doing a great service for this country by simply preventing Barack Obama gaining another term. I also think that Governor Romney will help to us reestablish America as the greatest nation on earth.

Excellent analysis, better than what many experts said on television after the debate.

Total score: 89/90. Excellent work, among the best in the class.--Andy Schlafly 10:13, 27 October 2012 (EDT)